


Plain Magic

by Lirial89



Category: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter - Laurell K. Hamilton, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Harry leaves Britain, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-12-04
Updated: 2015-02-06
Packaged: 2017-11-20 06:46:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 18,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/582459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lirial89/pseuds/Lirial89
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Several months the final battle Harry is sick to death of magical Britain, they haven’t changed and the way things are going in ten years or less there will be another Dark Lord and why should he die for them again, why should he fight for the sheep who are too stupid to fight for themselves? St Louis here he comes, watch out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prayer of the Refugee

Plain Magic 

Fandom: - Harry Potter/Anita Blake  
Pairings: - Harry/?  
Set: - After the end of the Harry Potter series excluding that travesty of an epilogue. And before   
Warnings: - Violence, discrimination, bigotry, child abuse, sex, eventual death of a major character, will be slash.  
Kinks: - Slight DS themes, rough sex,   
Disclaimer: - both Harry Potter and Anita Blake are owned by J K Rowling and Laurel K Hamilton respectively, I’m just playing with the characters. This is a blanket disclaimer for the whole story.

Summery: - Several months the final battle Harry is sick to death of magical Britain, they haven’t changed and the way things are going in ten years or less there will be another Dark Lord and why should he die for them again, why should he fight for the sheep who are too stupid to fight for themselves? St Louis here he comes, watch out.

~☼~

Chapter One – Prayer of the Refugee

~☼~

“I'll be more enthusiastic about encouraging thinking outside the box when there's evidence of any thinking going on inside it.”   
― Terry Pratchett 

~☼~

Harry watched silently as the new minister made his acceptance speech to the crowd in Diagon Ally, Dumbledore standing off to the side, his eyes twinkling as he nodded along with what the minister was saying. 

Harry’s face grew more and more impassive with each sentence the moron uttered. He scanned the rest of the crowd for their impressions of the newest puppet and only found approving and impressed looks, Harry sneered internally at their stupidity, the fucking sheep of the Wizarding world and as they started applauding the dipshit he made his way to the bank, it was time to finalise his plans. 

He shifted his black leather shoulder bag on his shoulder and brushed his currently brown hair from his now light brown eyes before Harry headed further down the ally towards Gringotts. Screw them all. Harry shook his head as he passed people talking about the heroes of the war and all he could think was why couldn’t they have fought for their freedom themselves? What gave them the right to expect children to fight and die for them? 

~☼~

Harry entered the tall white building nodding to the armed guards as he walked through the front door, he made his way over to the counters and waited in line for several minutes before one of the goblins were free to serve him.

“What do you want human?” he was asked rudely. Harry eyed the surly creature for a moment before speaking.

“My name is Harry Potter, I want to claim any and all vaults and possessions that are available to me,” he said voice calm and cool, polite and formal, he had no love for the goblin race but he was glad that he and his ‘friends’ had never had to break into Gringotts after all, it would have been a complete bitch to get his money if he had made an enemy of the short bastards. The teller’s eyes widened and he rang a small bell at his side, another goblin rushed over and the teller whispered some hasty instructions and the younger goblin ducked through a side door and disappeared. Harry raised an eyebrow, feeling mildly unsettled at the exchange.

“If you would wait over there for a moment, Shortsnout will be back to take you to a manager in just a few minutes,” the teller told him almost nervously, Harry nodded and made his way over to where the goblin had indicated he wait. He leant against the wall and closed his eyes briefly, the weight of what he was doing weighing down his shoulders before he straightened, shoulders going back into perfect posture and his face setting back into impassive, he shifted his leather satchel so it settled more comfortably on his hip. Harry watched the customers curiously as he waited for his escort to come back, less than five minutes later Shortsnout was back. 

Harry followed him down a hallway silently for several minutes, being led into the deeper levels of Gringotts; Harry wondered just what he had inherited to gain this treatment as he was shown into a large office. He looked around, quickly scanning his surroundings before he took the seat that the goblin behind the desk waved him to. The younger goblin bowed and closed the door behind himself when he was dismissed. Harry and the manager regarded each other for a long moment in silence before the manager pushed a pile of parchment over to where Harry was sitting.

“Mr Potter,” he said as politely as Harry had ever heard a goblin. “I am Hanglok, you asked for a complete accounting of both what you own and what you can claim, is this correct?” Harry nodded and reached for the documents, he started to scan the top one when Hanglok spoke again. “The documents you have now are the vaults and items you have inherited by virtue of direct bloodline decent, these here-.” He continued, shoving another stack of paper over to Harry. “Are the vaults and items you have been willed, gifted or left by people, mostly because of your triumph over the dark lord, a few I believe are more personal but most of the items were left to ‘the defeater of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named’,” he watched Harry flick through the papers, scanning each of the documents before placing it aside, this continued for several minutes, the only noise was the sound of the parchment as it was moved. “And some of these you have earned by right of conquest.”

After reading each bit of paper Harry sat back in silence as he contemplated his new wealth. He flicked his eyes over the manager and just regarded him for several seconds before clearing his throat.

“Does the Ministry get notifications when a vault closes?” He asked his most pressing question. Hanglok shook his head with a toothy smile.

“No Mr Potter, the Ministry has nothing to do with Gringotts except when it comes to felons, we’re not required to tell them anything and more to the point – we don’t want to.” Said the goblin who was getting a good feeling about the teen. Harry nodded thoughtfully before he reached into a pocket and pulled out a piece of parchment, he unfolded it and looked back at Hanglok.

“I have some questions,” he said and Hanglok nodded agreeably. “First, does Gringotts have any branches in other countries, which ones and can I access my vaults from them?”

“Yes we do, we have branches in most European countries, several in America, Australia has several too, New Zealand, several in Canada, a few in Africa – not many but we do have several mines there too, Egypt, several other middle eastern countries including Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. Greece has one also along with several others scattered on various islands.” Harry was told by the goblin whose smile had grown at the question. “All vaults and the items within them can be accessed and removed by the owner in any branch of our bank across the world.” Harry’s lips quirked at that and he relaxed slightly running a hand through his shoulder length hair. “Also in many of the other countries we have something called a ‘debit card’ which can be used in both the magical and muggle worlds,”

“Well that gets rid of half my questions,” He said some amusement in his voice. “Ok, next question, can Gringotts organise the sale of the excess properties I have? Including stripping the buildings of any paintings, heirlooms, artefacts, books etcetera and destroying the ones that are cursed or – well overwhelmingly dark, as in harmful not banned by the morons?” 

Hanglok nodded thoughtfully and wondered if this wizard would give them back whatever treasures he had that were Goblin made, he decided it wouldn’t hurt to ask, he could always rip the teen off if he said no.

“We can, we’d also transfer the items from the properties into your vaults,” He eyed Harry as he continued. “Our employees excel in breaking curses, we could uncurse some of the items if that was what you wanted – for a price of course.” Harry blinked and he smiled slightly, there was always a price but at least the goblin nation was honest about it.

“Of course there would be a cost, what would Gringotts ask for this service?” he asked his eyes brightening slightly from the dull green they had been before, he had always liked bargaining.

“The return of the goblin made items that you now posses, in return for lifting all the curses on your items that we can and destroying the ones that we can’t.” Harry thought about the offer for a long minute before a thought struck him. 

“I can agree to that but -.” Harry started and Hanglok’s eyes narrowed slightly. “There is one item I would like to keep for my lifetime, I’d will it back to Gringotts at my death but I would prefer to keep hold of it until then,” 

Hanglok watched the boy and smiled inwardly as the teen negotiated, an idiot the wizard was not – good it would serve him well in his upcoming years. “What item?” he said shortly, it wouldn’t do to act soft but he wouldn’t scare the boy off, not yet any way.

Harry smiled slightly, not showing teeth (If any creature was born with that many pointed and sharp teeth then it was a predator and probably an effective one, so showing teeth could be shown as an act of aggression and Harry wasn’t stupid, he had enough enemies already he wasn’t going to piss off the people who controlled his bank accounts. Even if he didn’t like them in general.) and explained to the manager.

“The sword of Gryffindor, it’s saved my life several times and knowing my luck I’ll need it again,” he said pushing his hair back and deliberately displaying his empty hands in a casual position.

Hanglok thought about it for a minute, it was actually a generous offer and the boy did say that after his death it would be returned to them, he finally nodded telling Harry that the offer was acceptable. Harry though about his next question and glanced at his list before he looked back to Hanglok.

“Excellent. How long will it take to strip the houses? And do I need to sign anything to get the houses on the market?” 

“Well Mr Potter, we can empty all the houses within a fortnight and to sell them we need you to sign-.” Hanglok moved over to a filing cabinet and opened the second draw down, rifling through it quickly and pulled out a form, he handed it to Harry after sitting back down. “-this, and then we can do the rest, Gringotts will of course take six point five percent of the sale price of each of the buildings and when sold the money will be transferred into you personal vault. Do you have any other questions?”

The black haired teen thought about it and shook his head, the rest could wait until he was out of the country, Harry paused then opened his mouth. “One last question, can I open a new vault under a different name and get everything moved to that one?” Hanglok hesitated for a moment then spoke.

“Once you have an established new identity we can do that but until then we cannot allow vaults under false names,” Harry nodded his understanding, so that had to wait but he could still make his money more secure.

“Ok, can I block all access to my vaults except for myself? And can I have a control question to access them?” he asked, Hanglok nodded but Harry could tell he was confused by the question so he elaborated. “I’m concerned about Polyjuice or Metamorphs pretending to be me, and I know that at least one other person has accessed my vaults without asking, I’d rather not have that happen again,” Harry told him.

“Ah, I understand, what question would you like to use?” Harry though about it for several moments, thinking of questions and people who’d know the answers before deciding on something he had never discussed with any one in the magical world.

“The question is ‘What’s your favourite song by Shinedown?’ and the answer is ‘Burning Bright’, is that ok?” He asked and was given an affirmative answer, Harry smiled relieved that things had been going well so far. He stood and glanced down at the papers. “Can I take these with me? Oh and don’t tell whoever tries to access the account the question, just ask them for both the question and the answer, anyone who can’t answer both charge them with attempted theft.” 

Hanglok nodded holding out a hand to shake, another test – most wizards wouldn’t even think about shaking hands with a being that they deemed so inferior but Harry just reached out and shook before gathering up the papers and placing them in his bag. Harry’s eyes swept over the room again and returned to the manager.

“Thankyou for answering my questions,” he said as Hanglok showed him to the door and his guide to the main halls of the bank. Hanglok with a toothy grin nodded.

“No, Mr Potter, thankyou,” He told the young human. “It’s not often we get to piss Dumbledore off, and this? – this will ruin many of his plans,” he said showing his teeth off to the full extent. “May I make a suggestion? Go to the post office and get one of their post boxes, they can give you more details but I believe that having one would be in your best interests.” Harry nodded thoughtfully and followed his guide back through the corridors.

“Do you have any other business here today Mr Potter?” Harry was asked and he nodded.

“Yes, I need to get some money from my trust vault and exchange some for muggle money,” With that Harry was escorted down to his vault, where he gathered up a reasonable amount of galleons into his money pouch and exchanged some of it back on the banks main floor for a sizable wad off cash which both of which went into his bag, making him glad once again that he had a feather-light charm on the bag.

Well, he might not like the Goblin race but they were damned efficient.

~☼~

Harry left the bank with a nod to the guards and with his head held high he followed the twists and turns of Diagon Ally to where the post office sat, owls coming and going from the high windows. Harry felt his heart clench as he watched them for a moment, the loss of his beloved friend and pet Hedwig still hurt even after nearly a year. 

He entered the business with an impassive face and a confident air; he looked around the store quickly before he moved to the front counter where a man only a few years older than him was filling out paperwork. He looked up and smiled politely at Harry who mimicked the fake expression.

“Welcome to the Post Office, owl can I help you today?” Harry’s lips quirked just slightly at the memorised greeting and kept his eyes slightly to the side of the young man, he was taking no chances, and no-one was going to read his mind again.

“Hi, I was talking to a – friend and he mentioned something about post boxes. Could you explain what they are?” Harry asked.

“Sure,” He said, he turned and grabbed a box off one of the shelves, it was a bit bigger than a shoe box but not as deep, made of a deep rich reddish wood. He placed it on the counter. “This is the deluxe model, the way these boxes work is that you have a box that corresponds with one here, letters get sent to you but come here where we place them in your box. The letters that are placed in your box here get transported through to the box in your possession, the deluxe model strips all charms, hexes and curses from the letters placed in the box and gives you a summery of what was sent written on the envelope that the spelled object is in.” he pointed at a silver medallion imbedded in the lid of the wooden box. “This glows when a letter comes through and will continue to glow until you take the letters out. To send a letter back you place it in your box, and it gets transferred to us and we send it with one of our owls. For the deluxe model you pay a yearly fee of 100 galleons,” Harry blinked shocked at the price, you could by a decent broom with that amount but for what you were getting it seemed to be a good deal.

“So if I had one of these, would it work in a different country? I plan to go travelling for the next year or so,” Harry told him with a tilt of his head.

The store clerk nodded brightening at that. “Yeah, but only the deluxe models, the others don’t have enough spells on them to work out of the country,” Harry nodded thoughtfully then thought of something else.

“What about packages? How do they get sent through?”

“Oh! That’s easy, there’s an automatic shrinking charm – once the package is lowered into the box, it’s shrunk into a size that fits into the box and when you take it out of your box it regains its original size.” He said cheerfully and pointed at the lid. “Oh, and when you send something back through your box to here you need to shut the lid for it to go through. Do you have any other questions?” 

Harry double checked about tracking charms and what would happen to charmed items when they went through the box before picking a box made of a deep polished brown oak with a silver crescent moon medallion. Harry had to tell the older man who he was to get the box tied to his name but everything happened quite quickly after that and with minimal gushing. 

Harry left the Post Office with his new post box slipped into his bag and quickly made his way out of the heaviest foot traffic and wandered down the ally looking around with jaded eyes, he wished faintly that he was more comfortable with magical Britain but he wasn’t, he didn’t like the rampant prejudice or the sheer stupidity of the majority of the wizards that he had met.

He shook his head and smiled bitterly as he murmured one of his favourite quotes from Albert Einstein. "Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." He snorted quietly; any wizard raised in this world wouldn’t have a clue about who that was. Harry was about to leave the ally when a thought came to him and he turned around and started down the street, eyes scanning the people around him as he moved purposely through the crowd until he came to a large building. Harry regarded the building with a faint sneer before he entered, schooling his face into his customary neutrality.

Harry glanced around the front room and made his way over to the receptionist, he smiled at her and did his best to hold back his sigh of annoyance at her blatant once over.

“Hi, I’d like to get a years subscription of the paper, paid for right now if possible,” Harry told her and she nodded brightly, she grabbed a form off the side of her desk and started to fill it out.

“So the price for the whole year, if you pay up front is 43 galleons and 7 sickles, if you pay for each individual paper the overall cost is 3 galleons more,” She said and Harry nodded his understanding and pulled out his money pouch, said the amount clearly and upended it onto her desk. She counted it quickly and wrote him a receipt. “Ok, so I just need your name and your paper will be delivered tomorrow,” Harry smiled at her and leaned down to whisper.

“Harry Potter,” he said quietly and she gasped. “Shh, I’m in disguise,” he told her and she nodded glancing over her shoulder before looking back at him.

“I – Could I get your autograph? I promise I won’t tell anyone you’re here,” she asked and Harry nodded, she passed over a piece of parchment. “My name is Rebecca Jones, thank you for this,” Harry signed the parchment (To Rebecca Jones, may your life be peaceful and full of joy, Harry Potter) as she finished the form. Rebecca smiled at the autograph then back at Harry who smiled back at her. After exchanging pleasantries Harry left the building quickly and headed back to the pub. Time to leave the British Magical world.

He wouldn’t have bothered with getting the Daily Prophet but knowing how Britain would react to him disappearing could be important.

With a sigh Harry made his way out of the ally and back through the Leaky Cauldron, he wandered down the street until he got to a phone booth that still had the phone attached to it, he pulled the business card out of a side pocket of his bag and dialled the number on it, it rang twice before someone picked up.

“Hello, this is the American Embassy, how can I help you to day?” said a polite female voice and Harry straightened and braced himself for what he was about to do.

“Hi, I’m Harry Potter, I’m calling to speak to Mr Field,” he said his heart thumping in his chest as he tried to keep his breathing calm.

“Is he expecting your call?” she asked him with a reserved tone.

“Not today but he was expecting one from me within the next two weeks and I didn’t want to keep him guessing about my answer,” he explained trying to keep his nerves out of his voice. She hummed for a moment before she placed him on hold for a minute; Harry stuffed a few more coins into the phone box while waiting. Her voice came back on the line this time with much more respect in her voice.

“I’ll put you through right now Mr Potter, have a nice day,” she said and Harry thanked her for her help. It was merely seconds before a cheerful male voice came through the line.

“Harry! I wasn’t expecting your call for at least a week, is everything ok?” There was genuine concern in his voice; it made Harry smile through his nerves.

“Everything’s fine, I’ve just made up my mind and well – I didn’t see a point in waiting,”

“Oh? And what’s your discission?” Harry took a steading breath and breathed out before he answered.

“Yes,” He said voice shaking slightly. “My answer is yes.” Harry felt tension draining out of him with those words and he slumped against one of the plastic walls of the booth.

There was a stunned silence for a moment then the older man laughed appreciably and Harry could hear the chair creak as if he was shifting in his seat. “Well then Harry, when you like to leave?” 

 

End chapter one


	2. Hanging By A Moment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arriving in America

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN – Harry’s birth year has now been changed to ’93 because I like putting in modern tech, so he’s now 19 in 2012

Chapter Two – Hanging By A Moment 

~☼~

See disclaimer in chapter one  
~☼~

"Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense."  
— Ralph Waldo Emerson 

~☼~

Harry looked around the LAX terminal with a slight smile as he waited in line for customs to let him through into the main part of the airport, after the long flight his jeans were slightly uncomfortable around his waist but his t-shirt and the light grey hoodie while wrinkled were comfortable. Harry was almost in shock it was only nine am but the airport was still packed full of people. 

He moved over to the customs desk and passed his bag over to be scanned, he wasn’t worried about any of the magical items in his bag being detected there was a warded compartment on the side of his leather satchel that held everything magical, including his wand and the invisibility cloak, the rest of his bag held a DS with a couple of games, an i-Pod, a notebook and pen and a book (Good Omens by Terry Pratchett) as well as a bottle of water, his wallet and his shiny new passport, the one that showed duel citizenship.

The customs officer looked through his passport, noting the multiple stamps in it (all faked by the American Embassy in England) and stamping it himself before he glanced through the rest of Harry’s bag, eyeing his book for a moment.

“Any good?” he asked and Harry nodded with a grin.

“Yeah, its pretty good, there’s this one quote in it that’s awesome it’s ‘God does not play dice with the universe; He plays an ineffable game of His own devising, which might be compared, from the perspective of any of the other players [i.e. everybody], to being involved in an obscure and complex variant of poker in a pitch-dark room, with blank cards, for infinite stakes, with a Dealer who won't tell you the rules, and who smiles all the time.’” He told him and the customs agent laughed, they exchanged grins and he handed Harry his bag back, Harry swung it onto his shoulder again and tucked his passport back into the main bag even as he pulled out his water bottle.

“Enjoy America Mr Black,” Harry was told and he made his way out of the security area and into the main area of the airport. Harry took a mouthful of water and kept a tight grip on his bag, he kept his eyes scanning for the magical section.

Catching sight of the money exchange he wandered in and traded his pounds into dollars, he made a note of the amount, tucked it into his wallet and his wallet back into his bag and zipped the top shut before he swung the flap back over the front of the bag and in doing so raised the anti-theft wards. Harry shifted the strap of the bag so it now crossed over his chest and headed back into the main area to find the magical section.

After wandering around for nearly half an hour he finally spotted one shop that was completely ignored by everyone else, also the sign across the front window was a pretty big hint that it was magical, it even sparkled as the words changed colours.

_**‘Come In, Where Magic Happens!’** _

Harry grinned at that and headed into the shop, once inside he did his customary quick scan and entered properly, letting the door close behind him as he walked in looking at shelves and the little knickknacks on them before he headed to front counter where a girl roughly his age was wearing an open over robe of a bright violet shot through with silver threads over simple black pants and a black halter top. She was wearing a pentagram and a pointy conical hat. Harry just grinned and hoped that she could point him in the right direction. She was reading what looked to be a text book and making notes on a note pad next to the book on the counter, she looked up and smiled with a cheeky look in her eyes.

“Hi, welcome to the Magical Journey, what can I do for you?” she said looking him up and down with a playful leer and Harry laughed at that.

“Hey, I’m Luka, I just got here from England and I was wondering if you could tell me how to get to the nearest Gringotts,” he told her and she nodded letting the leer fade into a smile. She moved out from behind the counter and walked over to one of the side shelves and got a book off the middle shelf, she passed it to Harry who looked at the title.

**What You Need To Know To Survive In America**

“This is what you need, I can tell you the basics but honestly? I have a copy of this in my bag ‘cause its so helpful,” she said and pulled another book off the shelf and handed it to him. “Also if you can afford to get this one too, I’d get it, this one goes into all the details of what is legal to do in front of the mundanes and what you can expect from the vampires, it also has wards in it for vampires, weres and the fay.” She said tapping the other book she’d just handed him. “This is just as useful as that one, together they’re either 15 galleons or if you have mundane money it’d be $100 dollars,” Harry nodded thoughtfully and pulled out his wallet, he handed over two fifty dollar bills and looked at the second book she’d passed to him.

**Vampires, Shifters and Mundanes Oh My,  
A Guide to Legal Safety Measures,**

She gave him a copy of his recept and he flicked through the first book even as she spoke again. “So now that you’ve brought these I’ll show you to our floo connection, it the quickest way to Gringotts but not all shops have a connection to the network so it’s a good idea to know how to find your way back to the magical areas if you need too,” She said and Harry followed her through the curtained off doorway and saw the open fire place. “Just say Gringotts and it’ll take you to the nearest bank,” Harry nodded and grinned at her taking the pinch of floo powder and tossing it in the cold flames before he called out the name of the bank and stepped into the fire.

~☼~

Harry stepped out of the fire place and moved over to the line for the counters giving himself a quick tap with his wand to get rid of the ash from his clothes. He waited patiently for his turn in front of the goblin tellers adjusting his bag slightly and taking another drink of water from his now nearly empty bottle.

Harry looked around the bank noting the similarities between the LA branch and the one in England, it was still done in white marble but instead of torches for light and candles it used what looked to be electrical lights, and a general more modern feel to it. Harry liked it.

It took almost fifteen minutes for the line in front of him to disappear, during that time he people watched. He’d always watched the people around him ever since he could remember, making up stories about them and their lives, watched them for violence or scorn, people were interesting, they obsessed, loved, hated, were both kind and cruel. They fascinated Harry with how they changed in a blink of an eye.

When his turn came at the counter he handed over a pre-written note that said –

‘My name is Harry Potter, I’d like to speak to a manager please.’

The goblin looked up from the note and studied Harry who just looked back at him before giving a nod and barking something in Gobbledegook and sending a young goblin running out of a side door giving Harry a sense of daja’vu. The teller sneered at him and pointed to a waiting area, telling the young wizard to wait there.

Roughly twenty minutes later (Harry had indulged in his people watching again) a goblin came to fetch him and Harry followed him down several corridors to a modest office. There was a goblin sitting behind a large wooden desk and he waved Harry into one of the seats opposite him.

“You are Harry Potter?” the goblin barked the question at him and Harry nodded. “If you are who you say you are then you know what has to be confirmed before I will discuss anything else about your accounts,” Harry was told in a brisk tone.

“The question is ‘What’s my favourite Shinedown song’ and the answer is ‘Burning Bright’.” The goblin nodded and made a note on a piece of paper (that was different, in England they had only used parchment) before looking back at Harry, just looking at him silently for a moment before nodding sharply and Harry got the feeling that he’d just passed a test, what test he didn’t know but still, passing a test was a good thing.

“Very well Mr Potter, I am Orac, what can I do for you today?” Harry smiled at that with a closed mouth.

“I’ve established a new identity and I want everything removed from my vaults into a new one under my new name. I want one vault with money in it and one for objects, can you do this for me?” he asked and Orac nodded in understanding. “I also need a debit card in my new name and I’ll need help buying a house soon, I’m not sure where yet but I thought letting you know I’ll need help now is better than springing it on you later.” Harry explained to Orac who nodded and pulled out a form from one of his draws.

“Easily done, what name are you using now and what proof do you have that this is an established identity?” he asked and Harry fished out his wallet and his passport from his bag, handing over the passport while he pulled out his photo I.D card from his wallet and passed that over too. “How did you get these?” Harry hesitated before answering, it wouldn’t hurt to answer.

“The American Ministry made me an offer after the war finished; they would provide me with a new identity and American citizenship if I swore an oath not to knowingly or willingly attack the American government for as long as I was a citizen. I said yes two days ago, I chose my new name two hours after I said yes and was on a plane twelve hours after that. I’m officially an American citizen, I have a fake history in my head, and England can’t touch me here,” he told the goblin who was watching intently for any lies.

“Confirm your new name for me and your new date of birth,” Orac said neutrally with a sneer, Harry felt like rolling his eyes, goblins were so rude.

“Luka Daniel Black, 15th of August 1993,” Orac filled out something on the form and then stamped it, it glowed blue for a second then a wooden box that reminded Harry of his post box glowed a corresponding blue and Orac opened it. He pulled out two cards and pushed them over to Harry who picked them up. One was a black card with golden letter on it with the words Gringotts and Harry’s name and the usual bank details, the other was a sea green with silver letters with the same details.

“The black one is to any Muggle a credit card, no limit. The green one is your debit card, at the end of each month the amount spent using these will be deducted from your account. The pin number for the debit card is ‘xxxx’ and you sign for the credit card, sign the back of each of these and place a drop of blood on the card to bind them to you so that no one else can use them and you should be fine.” Harry was told briskly. “Your accounts will be organised within an hour and your cards will work now. We’ll send you monthly statements, I suggest you get a post box tied to each name, it will make things much easier for you and minimise the chances of tracking you,” 

Harry nodded in agreement. “I have one in my original name, where would I get one here?” 

“There is a post office just down the street, simply exit the bank and roughly three hundred metres on the left hand side you’ll find it.” Harry gathered up his I.D. and bank cards, slotting them into empty places in his wallet. He then put the leather wallet and his passport back into his bag and stood when the account manager did. “Contact us when you’re ready to buy a house, Mr. Black we’ll take care of the details,” Harry shook hands with Orac and was quickly shown out of the bank. 

Harry felt slightly dizzy at the speed everything was happening at but couldn’t complain about how efficient the Americans and the goblins were. As he made his way down the stairs he looked around at his first sight of magical America, there were people in normal clothes, in robes and various combinations of both. Wizards and witches were walking down the street with goblins, veela, and other species, Harry felt a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, already America was looking far better than Britain.

He paused for a second at the bottom of the steps as a thought crossed his mind; he wasn’t sure where he was exactly. He blinked at that and sheepishly rubbed a hand through his hair, he looked around for some one to ask but decided to wait until he got to the post office. Harry quickly headed down the street, trying his best not to bump into anyone, it didn’t take long to get to the post office from the bank but Harry enjoyed the heat and the sights around him as he walked.

Looking at the building that housed the post office he was struck at how different it was too its British counterpart, it was modern and while birds still flew in and out of the upper floors Harry could see that they weren’t all owls, in fact there were very few owls. Harry walked into the building and headed over to organise a new post box. He organised to get another deluxe model this time with the medallion on the cover being a silver Chinese dragon; it was made of a beautiful red coloured wood polished to a deep shine. 

Harry had also asked about where he was exactly and was told that he was on the island colony of Roanoke, it was one of the only purely magical areas in the United States of America. He had asked about the newspapers and was told that there were several, Harry decided to wait until he was more aware of differences of the papers before he chose to get a subscription. After wandering around the streets for just over an hour he found a shopping mall and wandered in.

He was amazed at how different everything was it was brightly lit with a mix of electrical lights and magical globes of light, Harry just stood and stared for long moments before moving forward and looking through the stores. He wandered for a while before he found a clothing shop that sold t-shirts with sayings on them; Harry wandered around looking at various colours and sayings.

Harry gathered up every top that caught his eye and laid them over his arm, he kept looking for anything else that caught his eye. After asking the teenage boy manning the register if he could put the shirts on the counter Harry went to try on jeans. He chose three in black, three in dark blue and one in a dark forest green, Harry brought them up to the counter and waited for the younger teen to ring up his purchases, swiping his card through the machine to pay for the clothes. Once they were bagged up Harry shrunk the bags then stored them in his shoulder bag. 

Every shop that caught his eye he entered, buying things along the way as he made his way through the shopping centre. A jewellery store caught his eye and he wandered in, Harry looked around seeing lots of shiny things but they were all very girly, towards the back of the store Harry noticed more manly items. A silver chain with a pendant on it caught his eye; the black stone was an oval shape about 3cm long and 2cm wide with a silver silhouette on it of a dragon in flight. Harry tilted his head as he examined the necklace and was shocked when bright colours suddenly appeared in the stone, bright red, orange and blue shone up from the stone and Harry smiled in delight. 

A man in a sharp suit approached Harry, a polite expression of neutrality on his blandly handsome face. “Can I help you sir?” he asked Harry, just a hint of distain in his voice. Harry was used to people judging him and just ignored his tone, fuck him, he wanted the necklace. 

“Yes,” Harry said curtly. “Tell me about that necklace,” he pointed into the display case to the one he wanted and watched the other man’s eyes dip down to look at it briefly then back to Harry.

“One of our more expensive items, it’s a black opal imported from Australia, the stone is flawless and shows the signature colours across its surface. The chain is platinum, as is the backing on the stone itself and the silhouette on the surface,” he told Harry looking him up and down. “I’m afraid that it may be out of your price range, sir,” Harry paused and looked at the man and kept his face blank with effort.

“Tell me sir,” his tone slightly mocking, making the older man stiffen in annoyance at Harry’s distain. “Do you work on commission?”

The man nodded crisply, a faint sneer on his face. “Yes we do,” Harry smiled politely at that and tilted his head slightly to the side before nodding.

“Great,” Harry told him, the smile still on his face. “Get someone else to serve me,” he paused thought for a second then added, “Please,” to his order, the older man who Harry guessed to be about 30 turned on his heel and marched over to a girl who looked a couple years older than Harry, she cowered slightly from him and quickly made her way over to Harry a weak smile on her face.

“Hi, I’m Sophia, I’ll be serving you today, how can I help you?” she asked brushing back a chestnut lock of hair off her face.

“I’m Luka,” Harry told her and pointed to the pendant he wanted. “I want that, tell me what I need to know about it,” he said watching as she composed herself.

“Well its 156 galleons and 16 sickles or $2350.00, it’s a flawless imported opal from Australia, the chain, backing and the dragon are all pure platinum. It’s charmed to be unbreakable, there are anti-theft spells on it so the owner is the only one who can wear it and it has comfort charms on both the chain and pendant,” she told him and Harry nodded thoughtfully, very useful.

“Excellent,” Harry said brightly, “I’ll buy it,” A shocked look crossing her face before a small smile crossed her lips. “And I need a watch too, what do you recommend? I don’t want something too – shiny though,” Sophia nodded pulling out a tray of watches and placing them on the counter in front of him. Harry looked at the ones that were practically dripping gems and shook his head. “Do people actually wear them?” he asked gesturing to the offending ones and Sophia laughed lightly.

“Only those with money but no taste,” she said and Harry grinned. “Ok, so these are the top of the line range we have,” She told him and pointed to several different watches. “So these are platinum like your necklace, and apart from telling the time they’re charmed to be unbreakable too, anti-theft spells, dirt repelling charms, comfort charms on all of them and the face of these three isn’t glass but a thin disk of diamond. Why don’t you try on the ones you like?” she said with a smile. “See which looks the best,” Harry nodded and started trying watches on, after trying on the five he liked best he retried the fourth, liking the way it felt on his wrist. “That one? It’s made in Switzerland, so it keeps perfect time, platinum, diamond cover and its 190 galleons or $2850.00,” Harry grinned and he gestured to the cash register.

“I’ll get them both, thanks,” She blinked and smiled back at him with near glee.

“It’s my lucky day,” she told him. “It’s my last day here, we get a 10% commission on everything we sell on top of our hourly rates, this sale – it gets me a bonus of $520,” she said with a grin, Harry grinned back and bowed slightly.

“I’m glad we both got what we wanted,” Harry said flicking his gaze over to the now sour looking man who was pointedly not looking at them. Harry handed over his card as she rang up the purchases and when she pulled out a bag he shook his head. “I’ll just wear them, if that’s ok?” 

She nodded and handed over the boxes containing his new things, Harry opened the first one and settled the watch on his left wrist before he put the necklace on, it sat just below the base of his throat. Harry took back his card and slipped it back into place, he gathered up both boxes, his receipt and wallet and placed them back into his bag, settling it in place at the small of his back before leaving the store. He couldn’t resist a smirk towards the sulking suit but he did restrain himself from sticking out his tongue at the man.

~☼~

Harry spent another hour and a half wandering and buying things that interested him, he piled everything he brought into his bag, glad that he had spelled it too be bottomless and weightless. Harry stumbled into the food court and checked his watch for the time, it said 1.45 and he blinked at it in shock. Harry hadn’t realised that so much time had passed since he’d landed that morning, he checked various food vendors before he chose what he wanted for lunch, picking a burger and chips (fries) with a chilled butterbeer he took a seat at one of the empty tables and pulled out his book to read for a bit.

After lunch Harry went back to exploring the mall, wandering from one store to another before he found an electronics shop called ‘MagiTech’, Harry thought it was an unimaginative name but couldn’t fault them on its accuracy. Once inside the store Harry couldn’t help but smirk at the thought of what the conservative purebloods in England would say if they could see this place.

Harry looked at everything on the shelves, focusing on the laptop computers, he’d wanted a computer ever since he was a kid and Dudley refused let him touch his. But he was lost, completely lost, Harry had no idea which one was the best model for him or about any extras he’d need.

One of the store helpers came over and helped him pick a computer that wasn’t too complicated as well as several other items, all of which went into his bag, including a cell phone that was on the main magical network, the laptop also had a permanent connection to the internet – it was one of the bonuses for buying a magical computer. Once he finished with MagiTech it was almost 4.30pm and the jetlag was getting to him, Harry headed off to hotel that the salesperson had told him about.

~☼~

The hotel was called ‘Sunset Ridge’, it was a four star magical hotel, the equivalent of a muggle five star hotel, Harry’s suite was on one of the top floors. One of the bellhops showed him up to his room and was happy to give Harry the lay out of the hotel. He told Harry when the restaurant opened and how to get to the swimming pool and gym, and was just very helpful in general.

“Thanks,” Harry said with a bright but tired grin, he pulled out his wallet and passed the older boy a fifty dollar bill. He entered the room and looked around, Harry felt a small smirk cross his face, just the sitting room of the suite was bigger than the Dursley’s living room and dining room. It was beautiful, done in elegant shades of browns and greens, Harry wandered over to where the basic kitchen was and looked through the fridge (milk, bottled water), in the small cupboards (Sugar, tea – several types, and three types of coffee). There was an electric kettle next to the sink and in the cupboard above that were cups and glasses as well as a several small plates. Harry checked out the rest of the suite and was very impressed by what he saw. 

He resisted the urge to just throw himself on the king-sized bed; Harry knew that the second that his head hit the bed, he’d be out like a light. He unpacked his bag, clothes in one pile and other stuff in another pile. He grabbed one of his new t-shirts and a pair of loose sleep pants and headed into the bathroom for a shower.

~☼~

When Harry woke again he blearily looked around, confused about where he was before the events from earlier that day caught up with him and he smiled and stretched lazily on the big bed. Harry scrubbed a hand over his eyes and felt a true surge off gratitude for the American agent Jonas Field for not only giving him his new life and identity but for the potion that fixed his eyes too. 

Harry checked his watch noting the time 10.23, he sat up and peered out one of the windows, judging by the dark sky and the city lights he could see he guessed that it was night. With a groan he rolled out of the bed and headed to where the cordless phone sat on its cradle, he picked it up and the menu sitting next to it, he was famished.

After glancing at the menu and phoning in his order he stumbled into the bathroom for another quick shower. He was out of the shower and dressed back into his sleep clothes in fifteen minutes. Harry couldn’t help smiling as he looked out of his window and saw the towers of lights before him, he felt truly free for the first time in his life. He was out of England, out from under Dumbledore’s thumb, away from the prying eyes of the sheeple of Brittan and away from his ex-friends and their easy betrayal of his secrets.

He was _free_.


	3. Warm Whispers

Chapter Three – Warm Whispers

 

~☼~

“Perhaps it would be simpler if you just did what you're told and didn't try to understand things.”              
― [Terry Pratchett](http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1654.Terry_Pratchett), _[Sourcery](http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/62360)_

 

~☼~

Harry taped a map of America up on the wall of his hotel room and unwrapped a pack of three darts, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he threw the first dart, then the second and finally the third, keeping his eyes closed the entire time. He opened his eyes to see where the darts had landed, all three were on the map but one was in the ocean so that was a ‘no’ – another was in Nevada which was another ‘no’, there was no way he was going to live in a _desert_ – the third was planted smack-bang in the middle of a city called St Louis.

 

Harry stared at the map for a moment then shrugged. He used his laptop to do a search on St Louis, finding the basics and a few mentions of a ‘vampire circus’ before he switched to a magical search engine. Harry found that there was a school for magic on the outskirts of the city, several courses at the university on advanced subjects including warding, magical architecture, advanced transfiguration and charms and more. The vampire Master of the City was a vampire named Jean-Claude, he was from Belle Mort’s line, he was in a triumvirate with the werewolf king of St Louis and a necromancer named Anita Blake. Harry wrinkled his nose at that, he couldn’t stand necromancers but the likelihood of running into her was very low. He read up on the city some more and while there were negative points to it – all in all he thought it sounded good. He looked up magical realtors and found one in Roanoke; Harry decided to drop in there after eating.

 

After grabbing some lunch in the hotel restaurant he asked a concierge about the best way to get to the realtor, he was given a return portkey that was charged to his room and two minutes later was spinning off to the waiting area of the office.

 

A young woman was sitting behind a desk; she looked up with a smile which widened when she looked Harry over. “Good afternoon, can I help you?” she asked.

 

Harry smiled at her. “Yeah, it’s a spur of a moment thing but is there anyone available to show me some properties in St Louis?” she frowned lightly and looked at the appointment book on her desk then looked back at him.

 

“If you’ll take a seat I’ll go see if someone can see you,” she offered and Harry nodded, sitting against the wall next to a fish tank, he watched the fish while he waited, they were surprisingly soothing. He decided that when he got a house he’d get fish and maybe a couple of other pets – it would be nice to have a furry critter to cuddle.

 

She came back five minutes later with a man of about fifty; he had salt and pepper hair with more pepper than salt and warm blue eyes. “Hello, I’m Steven Peirce, Melissa tells me you’re interested in looking at properties in St Louis?” he said reaching out with his right hand, Harry stood and shook his hand.

 

“Yes, I’m Luka Black,” Harry told him as he was led into an office. “I’m looking for a house in St Louis,”

 

“Well there are several available, may I ask your price range?”

 

“No limit,” Harry grinned and Steven smiled back at him. “I have several million to spend on a property and I might buy a vacation home at a later date but I’ve just been granted citizenship and I want to get settled as soon as possible,”

 

Steven nodded with a far more honest smile and pulled out a pensive and about ten vials of silvery liquid. “This is a better way of showing properties, I’ll take you through them here and if you like any in particular we’ll go to the actual properties at a later date.” Harry nodded his acceptance and Steven continued. “Now is there anything you don’t want? In the city? The suburbs? On the edges of the city? Do you want neighbours…?” he asked and Harry thought about it.

 

“No neighbours, hell no to suburbia, I don’t want anything in the city. Something with a fair bit of land if possible, I don’t care if I have to rebuild or build a house on the land, I want privacy.” He told him and Steven nodded thoughtfully.

 

“Ok, we have three that fit that description,” he put seven vials away and poured the first one into the pensive. He gestured for Harry to touch the silver liquid and they were both sucked into the memory.

 

~☼~

Harry looked around taking in the large house and sculpted lawn, it was lovely but Harry didn’t think that this was for him. Steven led him up the driveway from the large metal gates and began reeling off the stats for the property, he showed Harry around the house but after only twenty minutes Steven could see that Harry just wasn’t into the house.

 

“Next?” he offered and Harry smiled sheepishly.

 

“It’s lovely,” Harry told him. “But it’s just not what I’m looking for,”

 

They left the memory and returned to the office, Steven switched the memories out and they entered the pensive again.

 

This house was smaller and while fenced in Harry could see neighbours on either side of the grounds. “No, not this one either,” he said and Steven nodded, they moved onto the last property.

 

It was surrounded by trees; the house itself was a single story house in a ranch style. They had only been in the memory for twenty seconds when Harry turned to Steven.

 

“How big is the land?” he asked before Steven could begin telling him about the property. “And how far from the city is it?”

 

“It’s thirty square acres, roughly an hours drive to downtown – with good traffic conditions, more if it’s rush hour,” He told Harry who nodded along. “The house itself-.” Harry interrupted there.

 

“I’m not interested in the house; I’ll build a new one.” Harry told him. “But I do want to know more about the land,”

 

“Ok, well there’s a large pond set further back on the property, it has several types of fish in it, all edible, there are deer in these woods if you hunt,” Steven said to him as they walked along the boundary line. “It would be easy enough to ward the property line. The nearest house is almost four miles from here-.” He hesitated then added reluctantly. “The local werewolf pack is rumoured to have their meeting ground in the near by vicinity but as I said, warding the property would be easy enough to do,”

 

Harry hummed quietly as he looked around. “When can I see the actual property?” he asked and Steven smiled, feeling like a quick sell was on the way.

 

“Well if you have the time today, I can take you there as soon as we get back to my office,” Steven offered. “The house is empty so there’s no need to call ahead and I don’t have any more appointments today,”

 

Harry grinned at that, things were working out for him.

~☼~

Three weeks later all the paperwork had been filled out and sent to the proper authorities, the original house demolished and a new one built to Harry’s specifics along with three tunnels, two for escape purposes and another that led to an underground bumper – none of which would ever show up on any muggle plans or any scanning technology that the muggles had. He had also had a chest high stone fence along the _exact_ property boundaries, he remembered hearing Vernon complaining about his next door neighbour’s fence being just inside the Dursley’s land.

 

He had the property line warded against all preternaturals, it had a mild muggle repelling ward, wards for protection against fire, pests, earthquakes, tornados and a ward which stunned all those who attempted were intending harm him or anyone who was welcomed on his property, there was also a ward that would keep domesticated animals inside the property boundaries. Not to mention making sure that only he could apparate or portkey on and off the property – with the exception of the Magical Law Enforcement Agency (MLEA) agents.

 

Harry had used three different warding companies, each of which were the highest rated in America, he had had them layer the wards, one company’s over the others with only Harry tied to the wardstones in the along the boundary lines and the main one that was buried in the bunker.

 

Harry had gotten each of the companies to ward against mostly the same things, so that each ward was doubled up but the one ward that all three had used was against necromancers and zombies. There was no way that either of those were getting anywhere near his property, especially not St Louis’ Master’s pet one.

 

~☼~

Within a month of being on American soil Harry had brought land, had a house build, warded it to high heaven, had gotten his licence and now had brought a car. It was a nice shiny, black SUV – not off-the-lot-new but it was only a year old, and had plenty of space in it for carrying things – especially now that Harry had placed a space expansion charm and mild notice-me-not charms on the interior and the windows of the car.

 

Harry smiled as he drove his new car back to his home, the GPS on the dash giving him directions and music playing on the radio. After the song finished playing the host of the radio station came on.

 

_“Hey guys and girls! Remember to stay inside tonight folks it’s the full moon and all the furry critters will be out tonight, now our next song is I’ll Follow You Into The Dark by Death Cab For Cutie. Enjoy,”_ Harry glanced down at the radio and frowned lightly, well he’d be seeing if the wards would hold later that night.

 

He decided to do a walk around the property boundary when he woke up the next morning, Harry glanced up at the sun – it was already setting when he pulled into his driveway. Harry floated his shopping into the house and quickly put his groceries away in the kitchen, he made himself a quick sandwich and a glass of apple juice before he headed up the stairs and into his office where he spent the night surfing the internet and listening to music while hearing wolves howl through out the night. Harry couldn’t decide if he liked the sound or if it annoyed him, he ended up going to bed just after one and putting a temporary silencing ward up to stop the noise of the lycanthropes from interrupting his sleep.

 

~☼~

The next day Harry spent pottering around the house (no pun intended), changing the colours of the walls so that each room had a different coloured feature wall, he finished putting away his library and made a start of going through the list of items he had inherited – it was slow going, boring for the most part and tedious but there were a few items so far that looked interesting, including two pensives. Harry made a note on his desk planner to floo to Gringotts later in the week; he’d collect some items from his vaults then.

 

At just after one he made himself lunch and had sat down in his lounge room with a novel (Wintersmith – Terry Pratchett) the wards sounded in his head, Harry sighed and quickly finished his sandwich, the identification ward tell him there were five people at his front gate – four wolves and a necromancer. He slotted a bookmark in between the pages of his book and made his way to the front door just as the buzzer at his gate sounded; Harry felt his lips curl into a humourless smile; well at least trying to be polite now.

 

Harry pressed the intercom button and drawled out. “Yes?” there was silence for a second before someone answered.

 

“Uh, hello,” The voice was almost timid, Harry rolled his eyes in annoyance. “We’re here to discuss your – uh fence, came we come up?”

 

Harry snorted into the intercom. “Uh, let me think… no. No, I’m not letting strange lycanthropes into my home, if you want to discuss this face to face, I’ll come down to the gate but no-one is getting inside my home.” Harry said flatly and there was a long moment of silence as Harry waited for an answer.

 

“If that makes you more comfortable, it would be fine,” Harry felt like gritting his teeth, he couldn’t stand being patronised.

 

“It would make me more comfortable for you to leave and never bother me again.” Harry nearly snarled into the speaker. “Do _not_ patronise me, you came to _me_ – not the other way around.” He checked his reflection in the hall mirror and cast a breath cleansing charm before opening his door and walking down his long driveway, loving the way it curved so no one could see the house from the gate, the trees giving the property privacy.

 

When Harry rounded the corner of the driveway he spotted his visitors, three men and two women, he recognised them all from the files the wizarding community had put together on the internet. The men were the wolf-king Richard Zeeman, his two bodyguards Shang-Da and Jamil; and the women were the Necromancer Anita Blake and Richard’s second in command Silvia something.

 

Harry came to a stop in front of the gate and waited silently for them to speak first, he’d gotten very good at waiting during the war, he could outlast them. It didn’t take long for the death-bitch to speak.

 

“Look, kid – you need to stop whatever is preventing the pack from-.” Harry interrupted her.

 

“I’m sorry but we haven’t even been introduced and you’re already demanding something from me.” Harry said politely but coldly. “And quite frankly I’d rather boil myself alive then help a necromancer with anything,”

 

They stared at him in silence for a beat until she pulled out a gun and levelled it at his head with a snarl; Harry just raised an eyebrow at her. “Yes, fabulous first impression, Miss Blake. You’re pointing a gun at an unarmed civilian, while I’m on my property, behind gates and I’ve done nothing wrong. Nothing illegal, nothing immoral, I’ve harmed no-one except for your pride. So kindly fuck off,” he told her then turned to where Richard was still staring at him. “And you, Wolf-King Richard Zeeman, come back without her if you want to talk, I really don’t like necromancers.” He told them before he turned around and walked back up to his house, ignoring the voices behind him. If they wanted to talk to him they’d come back without her, if not then his wards were good enough to hold against a siege.

 

It’s not paranoia if you’ve lived through a wizarding war.

 

~☼~

That afternoon he called up a security company and next day Harry organised for them to install high resolution cameras along the property line – if the necromancer came back he wanted to have proof of harassment or threats, he refused to be bullied. Especially by something he feared, Harry had sworn to himself that he’d never hide from his fears again.

 

The feeds from those cameras were fed into a computer in Harry’s office set aside for just them and the cameras themselves were activated by motion sensors in a hundred yard circumference.

 

Harry thought maybe he was being a little too paranoid but couldn’t bring himself to care, whatever it took to survive and thrive in his new home.

 

With his latest security feature in place before lunch (the wonders of magic) Harry flooed to the Roanoke colony and headed into the bank to get some items from his vaults. As he was leaving the bank a goblin stopped him and passed him an envelope.

 

He stopped at a café and got a white hot chocolate and a red velvet mudcake cupcake before he opened the envelope; he read the letter within and felt his blood boil.

 

_Mr Black,_

_As per your instructions we at Gringotts are informing you that there was an attempt to access your old vaults._

_Over the course of three days four people have tried to access your old account with us. On Saturday the 6 th of October a Ronald Weasley tried to withdraw funds under your name, the next day two more people tried to access your accounts they had a key to your trust vault and a letter saying that they could take money out (a Hermione Granger and a Ginevra Weasley), and yesterday the 8th Molly Weasley tried to withdraw from your account._

_All four have been detained in our holding cells, we have a trial date set for them next week and until then we at Gringotts have these four thieves in our holding cells not the Ministry’s._

_We make the suggestion that you contact a media publication with a comment, this is of course your discission but it may help to further discredit the thieves._

_May you profit in all your deeds,_

_Hanglok._

 

Harry felt a tremor of rage run up his spine; he finished his afternoon snack and flooed back to his home. He stepped out of his fireplace and headed up to his office; Harry pulled out a piece of parchment, a quill and some ink and wrote a letter to the Daily Prophet.

 

_To The British Wizarding World,_

_I’m writing to inform you of some thieves in your midst. From the 6 th to the 8th of October this year four people have tried to access my accounts at Gringotts. Luckily I had organised for there to be a secret question that needed to be answered before anyone can access my money. _

_It is with greatest sorrow I feel that I must name these four thieves; they are Molly Weasley, Ronald Weasley, Ginny Weasley and Hermione Granger. These are people I trusted, that at one point I counted as family._

_I implore the courts to punish them with everything they can, this is a huge breach of trust and I wish that they knew just how betrayed I feel._

_I’m currently travelling, after the war I decided to see the world, which is exactly what I’m doing._

_Please make sure that these thieves and betrayers cannot do this to anyone else but please don’t blame their families, I’m sure that they were acting alone._

_Sincerely,_

_Harry Potter_

Harry snorted as he sealed it into an envelope and put it into his post-box, it glowed blue briefly as the letter was sent back to England and Harry hastily scribbled out a thankyou note to Hanglok and sent that on too.

 

He spent the rest of the day unpacking the items from his vault and putting them away, making sure that they were spelled so that no non-wizard could see them. He made a quick stir-fry for dinner and sat down in front of his TV to watch a few episodes of NCIS. He was three episodes in when the wards chimed in his head and he groaned letting his head thump back into the back of his couch, this time there were three shifters waiting at his gate and he rolled his eyes, two wolves and a leopard. Wonderful, the necromancer bitch owned the leopards in this town, just wonderful.

 

The intercom chimed and Harry went over to it. “What now?” he asked annoyed at being interrupted.

 

“Um, we’re here because the Master of the City is requesting your presence at the Circus tonight,” a hesitant voice said and Harry sighed.

 

“Uh-ha, right, requesting.” He snarked then continued before they could speak up again. “Is the necromancer going to be there?” he asked and there silence on the other end of the intercom.

 

“She’s the Human Servant of the Master, yes she’ll be there,” Harry thumped his head on his wall with a groan, his day just kept getting better.

 

“Right, call your master and tell him I require his oath that his Servant will neither touch me nor take any violent action against me unless I initiate the violence.”

 

“You can’t demand-.” The voice started to say when Harry cut him off.

 

“If your master wishes to see me then I require assurances. Especially given that the zombie queen has already pulled a gun on me without provocation. I’m well within my rights to ask for his oath when one of his people has already proven to be so violent and unstable,” After he let the button go he cackled happily, he loved messing with people and this would make the death-bitch look bad, well hopefully. Harry activated the eavesdropping ward to tap into their conversation.

 

_“…Jean-Claude is not going to be happy,”_ said the voice from the intercom.

_“You better call him, he’s going to be pissed anyway but it’ll be worse the longer you put it off,”_ said a second voice, also male _._

_“I just hope he doesn’t call her a zombie queen to her face, she’ll be pissed,”_ third voice, that one was male too.

_“She’s always pissed off,”_ said the second voice _. “Just call him, Jason, we need to hurry this up.”_

_“Jean-Claude? This is Jason, the guy you sent us to pick up?... He wants an oath from you before he’ll come to the circus,… he said – wait I’ll pass you over to Shang-Da he’ll tell you exactly what he said…”_

_“He said, ‘_ Right, call your master and tell him I require his oath that his Servant will neither touch me nor take any violent action against me unless I initiate the violence.’ _Then Jason said he couldn’t demand things from you and he interrupted to say ‘_ If your master wishes to see me then I require assurances. Especially given that the zombie queen has already pulled a gun on me without provocation. I’m well within my rights to ask for his oath when one of his people has already proven to be so violent and unstable,’ _… yes I’ll tell him, yes I understand.”_

 

_“And the verdict is?”_ Jason asked.

 

_“Jean-Claude has promised to control her,”_

 

There was a beat of silence before the intercom buzzed again. “Yes?” Harry said curiously.

 

“The Master of the City has agreed, his Human Servant will take no action against you,” Shang-Da said into the speaker. “Provided that you take no violent action first,”

 

Harry hesitated for a moment then spoke into the speaker. “That’s acceptable, I’ll be down in a few minutes,” he waited a moment but no reply came, Harry kept the eavesdropping ward activated and got the sound to follow him as he headed up the stairs and into his bedroom.

 

He stripped off and pulled on a pair of his best black pants and an emerald green button-down shirt and a black blazer, strapping his wand holster to his right forearm and his spare to his left ankle. He put his new necklace on and his shiny new watch; styled his hair with a quick spell and cast a few other personal grooming spells, before he spelled his Black family ring into a portkey which would activate if he said the password, was attacked or fell unconscious – he wasn’t taking any chances with this visit. Lastly Harry grabbed his new black leather shoes and slid them on, grabbing his iPod, phone and car keys. He plugged his iPod into his car stereo and put Ed Sheeran on play, Harry drove down his driveway, the gates opening as he drove towards them and closing behind him.

 

“I’ll follow you there,” he told the three who were standing around and Shang-Da stepped closer to him.

 

“Mind if I come with you?” He asked and tilted his towards the other two. “Jason and Caleb bitch at each other too much,” Harry rolled his eyes but nodded, it was easier to go along with it then to make himself look more difficult then he had too.

 

Shang-Da came around to the passenger side and got in, telling the other two to go. Harry followed them onto the road and they drove in silence for twenty minutes before Shang-Da spoke.

 

“I just realised, I don’t know your name,” Harry glanced at him then back to the road.

 

“Luka, Luka Black, and you?” Harry asked.

 

“Shang-Da Chang, nice to meet you,” Harry felt his lips quirk in amusement and he glanced back over to the tall shifter.

 

“You almost sounded sincere there,” Harry told him and from the corner of his eye he saw the Asian man look at him with a startled look, then he grinned.

 

“Well, I’m not too fond of change,” Harry just hummed and went back to singing under his breath to the music. After a few more songs Shang-Da spoke again. “So can I ask what you are?” Harry blinked and flicked his eyes over to him before answering.

 

“Magic user,” he said vaguely letting the shifter make the assumptions he would. “Can I ask how long you’ve been a wolf?”

 

Shang-Da regarded him quietly before he answered. “Seven years, I got bitten when I was nineteen,” Harry nodded and turned when directed. “How long have you been in America for?”

 

“A month, yesterday actually,” Harry told him before asking his question.

 

They kept trading questions back and forward for the rest of the trip until the circus came into view and Harry asked a final question. “So, any tips for in there?” he asked him and Shang-Da looked thoughtful.

 

“Be respectful, don’t lie,” He told Harry. “Don’t be submissive to them but don’t try to intimidate them. A light bow to Jean-Claude would not go amiss.” Harry nodded his acceptance and followed the directions to the employee carpark.

 

After parking the SUV Harry and Shang-Da walked over to the service entrance where Jason and Caleb were waiting for them and he followed them into the depths of the circus. The corridors twisted and turned like a maze the deeper they got, it reminded Harry of the secret passages in Hogwarts, it was a bitter remembrance of more innocent times with his used-to-be friends.

 

After ten minutes of walking they came to a closed door which Jason knocked on then waited a beat before opening the door. Jason and the leopard immediately went to their respective masters, Jason sitting at Jean-Claude’s feet and Caleb going to stand behind Anita. Shang-Da closed the door behind then and as he was going past Harry he brushed his hand across Harry’s back gently in such a way that no-one else could see it, despite himself Harry found it comforting, he continued across the room until he came to a stop behind Richard’s shoulder.

 

Harry focused on the dark haired vampire and nodded deeply to him with a quiet. “Master of the City,” and with that he waited patiently for someone else to say something.

 

It didn’t take too long before Jean-Claude finished assessing Harry’s appearance and shifted slightly in his elegant slouch. “You little one, are causing quite a stir among my people,” Harry was told and he had to resist rolling his eyes at the vampire. “And we do not even know your name,”

 

“Luka Black,” Harry told him and bit back the snarky comments that bubbled up in his chest, he was playing nice he reminded himself.

 

“How long have you been in my city monsieur Black?”

 

“I moved here a week ago,”

 

“And where were you before that?” Harry hesitated then answered.

 

“The Roanoke colony,” At his words Jean-Claude went inhumanely still, expression blanking out completely, Harry didn’t blink under his regard just let him stare until he’d seen what he needed to.

 

“Ah,” he said after a moment. “And you went to school in Scotland correct? For seven years?” he asked and Harry smiled ruefully.

 

“Six,” he said. “Six years, my final year was at the height of the – terrorist attacks so my friends and I spent most of the next two years camping – hiding from the morons in white masks,” Harry told Jean-Claude who nodded and thought about it for several seconds.

 

“I understand that there is some debate going about your people revealing themselves, to the – what do you call them?”

 

“’Mundanes’ is the polite term. And yes there’s a debate happening but we still remember the witch burnings, it will be several years before it’s put to vote,” Harry told him. “While it’s inevitable that we’ll have to reveal our general existence, the timing is a big thing,”

 

Jean-Claude nodded in understanding. “Of course, timing is everything.” He agreed before getting down to business. “The Ulfric of the Thronos Rock Clan has informed me that he and the rest of the wolves cannot access the land they traditionally do during the full moon, they tell me that there is a stone fence cutting through the traditional land they use and a -.” He cut his gaze to where Richard sat watching with a scowl. Jean-Claude smirked at the wolf and Harry had to wonder about their relationship if the Master Vampire was openly baiting part of his triumvirate in front of outsiders. “A force field, I believe was the term used – was keeping them from entering the property. Would you be willing to come to a compromise about the use of the land during the full moons?”

 

Harry raised an eyebrow and thought about it for a moment. “Perhaps,” he told them in a mild voice. “It depends, I’ll have to contact the warding companies I hired and see if it’s possible to move the wards during the full moon and what the cost would be. If it can be done then I expect that it would be paid for by the pack and I expect compensation for the use of my land for each full moon and any other times the pack wishes to use the land. If the pack wishes to use the land any other time other than the full moon I require at least twenty-four hours notice prior to the use of my property.” Harry told them flatly. “And under no circumstances is the necromancer to attempt to cross the fence, the wards against necromancers and zombies will not be relaxed – _ever_ and if a concentrated effort is used to attempt to cross the wards they will react, and you will not like how they do.”

 

Anita snarled at him and made a sharp motion.

 

Harry didn’t even blink.

 

Either her master would control her and force her to heel or she’d attack him and his portkey would take him home. Either way he’d win. But he didn’t think Jean-Claude would willingly let her make such a blow to his reputation, he had promised Harry safety and that there would be no direct contact between him and the zombie queen; besides what Harry could demand from him if she did attack him? Well Harry as a wizard could demand almost anything, including a public punishment for her.

 

He met Jean-Claude’s eyes even as she was still moving and let his lips quirk just slightly, letting the vampire see all that in his face before the Master moved too fast for the average wizard to see clearly but Harry had never been normal. He heard a small noise of shock and pain and when he turned around calmly he saw that Jean-Claude was holding her wrist tightly from where she had been going for a gun. Harry let his satisfied amusement show but didn’t say a word, what happened next was up to her master and because no actual action had been taken against him it wasn’t his place to weigh in in judgement.

 

“Perhaps we should continue this another time Monsieur Black,” Jean-Claude offered and Harry dipped his head in agreement, pulling a calling card from his jacket pocket, it simply read –

 

_Luka Black_

_xxxx-xxx-xxx_

 

In green ink on a white background. Simple, classy, it said what it needed to. Harry handed it over to the dark haired vampire.

 

“Call me and we’ll set up a time, I’ll see if the wards can be adjusted in the meantime and the cost,” Harry offered, amused that he was still holding onto his Servant.

 

“Jason, escort our visitor back to his car,” he ordered and Harry left the room in silence, flicking a quick glance around the room his eyes lingering ever so slightly on the tall Asian man before he followed the blond back to his car.

 

‘Well,’ Harry thought as he drove off. ‘That was interesting,’

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A.N. So I’m thinking pairing Harry with Shang-Da, thoughts? Also before anyone complains about me being unfair to Anita in my headcanon for this story Voldemort either was or one of the Death Eaters were a necromancer and used the animated bodies for the people they killed as canon fodder (seeing your dead classmates being used as soldiers for the other side would scar anyone and leave them with more then a few hang ups) also I just don’t like Anita, I think she’s a judgemental, hypocritical, trigger-happy, bitch. So no I won’t be going easier on her, I dislike the character and her demands on everyone she knows (Also her claims of not being one of the ‘monsters’ pisses me off). So if you don’t like it, don’t read it.
> 
>  
> 
> Also I’m thinking panther as what Harry’s shifter form will be…. But should he have an alternate animagus form? Thoughts on that would be appreciated along with what it should be.
> 
>  
> 
> So there’s my reasoning, I’ll read your ideas but any complaints or ‘flames’ will be ignored.
> 
>  
> 
> Thanks for reading.


	4. Author Note

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just an update

Hey all, just letting you know that chapter four is on the way. It's about half way done and i'm getting there. i just got a bit stuck...

Any way just letting you know that and that i've decided to keep Harry as a wizard and not a shifter but he will have an animagus form :) 

does any one have any requests about what you want to see in the story? Can't promise that i'll use your ideas but i might :)

so... ok going now :) have fun

ttfn 

Jenna


	5. Chapter Four – It Gets Better

 

~☼~

“The past needs to be remembered. If you do not know where you come from, then you don’t know where you are, and if you don’t know where you are, then you don’t know where you’re going.”   
― [Terry Pratchett](http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1654.Terry_Pratchett), _[I Shall Wear Midnight: A Story Of Discworld](http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/9934116) _

 

~☼~

The day after he had met with Jean-Claude Harry headed to the bank at the Roanoke colony; he wanted to pick up the pensives and some of the other things that were stored inside his vaults. Before he could leave the bank he was shown into Orac’s office, the goblin was sitting behind his desk a wicked smirk on his face.

 

“Ah Mr. Black, good, the thieves in England are to be taken to court tomorrow, the trial date has been moved up, whatever they are sentenced to they also have the punishment that we will apply to them, they will never be permitted to enter a Gringotts bank again or have an account with us and because they have tried to access an account that they were not permitted to we have taken two thirds of everything in their vaults,” Harry was told briskly. “You get a half of that and we keep the rest, any questions?”

 

Harry thought about it for a second before nodding. “Yes, is there a way that I can get the memory of their court session?”

 

Orac blinked and then grinned. “We can send one of our human employees and extract the memory afterward, for… lets say five galleons,”

 

“Three,” Harry offered back and the black eyes gleamed.

 

“Four and six sickles,”

 

“Done,” he was satisfied with that, it was probably an over charge but he wanted to see it, see them punished for something at last.

 

Harry left the bank and wandered around for a while, looking at the different things, he liked the Roanoke Colony, it was an entire island dedicated to magical races, all of the magical races. Goblins and wizards, Veela and Fey, changlings and various half-breeds and non-humans all worked and were treated equally, no one blinked at the differences. The island made him happy; it showed him that he was right for leaving England.

 

He had lunch at one of the cafés and then flooed home.

~☼~

Harry looked around his library and sighed. He was bored.

 

Really bored. The quiet was nice and all but he needed something to do. He summoned a notebook and wrote a list of things he enjoyed in it.

 

  1. **_gardening_**
  2. **_learning spells_**
  3. **_reading_**
  4. **_cooking_**
  5. **_flying_**



 

He looked at the list and winced, it was sad, he was nearly 20 and he had almost no hobbies or interests that could be turned into a career. He paused and considered fourth one, he liked cooking and he was good at it. Maybe he could open a café or something.

 

With that thought Harry got to his feet and headed up the stairs and into his office, he turned on his laptop and pulled up a search page (god bless google), he typed in the words ‘St Louis, cooking classes, food safe’. Harry watched as the window filled with information, he opened a few tabs and started reading the information. He traced a finger over one paragraph and after a seconds hesitation pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialled the number at the bottom of the screen.

 

It rang several times before a bored female voice picked up. “St Louis community college,”

 

“Hi, I was looking for Food Safe courses and I found that you have one starting in about a month, a night class? I’d like to apply for it.” He heard a thoughtful hum on the other end of the phone and after several seconds she spoke up.

 

“Right, there are still five spots open, applications close the day after next and the cost for the three week course is $350, this includes the cost of the ingredients and the time of your instructors,” She rattled off, obviously reading from the screen. “Would you like to fill out the application in person or do you want to do this over the phone?”

 

“Uh, the phone please,” He quickly ran through the questions she gave him and not even ten minutes later was enrolled in the course.

 

“Right, the course starts on the 14th of July, at seven pm in building D, room 31. You need to bring a pen and paper with you and ID, any questions?”

 

“No, thankyou,” Harry told her and she hung up the phone. Harry headed back down the stairs carrying his laptop, Harry marked the date for the course on the calendar he had in his kitchen and then headed back to his lounge room, he did a bit of browsing before he headed outside and started planning his garden. He wanted to start a vegetable garden and a potions garden and needed to pick the best spots for them. “Maybe a greenhouse?” he murmured to himself.

~☼~

That night as he was cooking dinner for himself and singing along to the song ‘Let Me Go’ by Christian Kane, his phone rang startling Harry who jumped, reached for his wand and burnt his hand on the wok. “Motherfucker!” he cursed and answered the phone. “Hello, Luka speaking,” He said as he headed to the sink and stuck his hand under the cold water.

 

“Ah, Monsieur Black, this is Jean-Claude,”

 

Fuck it all again. “Master of the City, what can I do for you?” He asked as he watched the water run over his hand.

 

“I was wondering when we could meet to finish our discussion,” the vampire said calmly. “I regret my servant’s aggression towards you and it has been decided that she will not be at the meeting between us, although she will be listening via a telephone, is that acceptable?”

 

Harry turned of the water and dried his hand off, thinking it over. “Yes, that’s an acceptable compromise, when do you want to meet?”

 

“Perhaps tomorrow? Shall we say… eight pm?” Harry bit back a sigh, he’d rather they left him alone.

 

“Sure, where am I meeting you?”

 

“Hmm, shall we say Guilty Pleasures?”

 

“What’s that?” Harry questioned with a frown.

 

“It is one of the businesses I own, it is a strip club,” Harry choked on his spit and coughed for several seconds. “I take it you’ve never been,” there was amusement in his beautiful voice.

 

“I’m sorry but we need to change venues,”

 

“Oh?”

 

“I’m nineteen; I won’t be twenty-one for nearly fourteen months,”

 

There was silence for a long moment before Jean-Claude spoke again. “Ah, well perhaps meeting at the Circus will be best,” He said and there was a note of something that Harry couldn’t describe in his voice. “I will have someone waiting at the employee entrance for you,”

 

“I’ll be there, have a good night,” Harry told him and hung up, he rescued his dinner and served up a plate for himself and poured a glass of apple juice before he headed into the lounge room, turned on the TV and pulled up an episode of NCIS.

 

Harry spent the rest of the night watching TV and playing on the internet before he went to bed at eleven.

~☼~

The next day Harry headed into St Louis and checked out the garden centres, he ended up buying several different types of fruit trees, many different punnets of seedlings and so many different packets of seeds he wasn’t sure of the final count. He got packets of soil and some sleepers to make raised garden beds, Harry drove back to his home and emptied his car. He then flicked through the magical directory he had picked up earlier that month and found the floo address for a less mundane garden centre, Harry on the advice of the herbologist ordered two greenhouses with protections and places an order for the plants he wanted and was recommended to be picked up after the greenhouses are set up. While he was there he stopped at the warding companies and got a quote for adjusting the wards.

 

Once he was back home it didn’t take more than an hour to plant the trees, he used magic to dig the holes and levitate them into place. He left the rest for later, he could wait, he had time.

 

The rest of his day was spent bumming around the house and swimming in the indoor pool that was attached to the house, he liked swimming. Liked the water and the way it felt.

~☼~

By the time six-thirty pm rolled around Harry was showered, dressed in his black slacks, a sapphire blue shirt and a black jacket, it wasn’t a suit but it was almost business casual and he liked wearing good quality clothes, not to mention that Harry looked good in it. He’s got his watch on, his necklace and his Black Family ring, his shoes are shiny black leather and his hair is styled with a spell, so it’s more artfully tussled then rats nest. Harry grabbed the folder that contained the information about the wards and headed to his car.

 

Harry arrived at the employee parking lot with ten minutes to spare, he locked the car, activated the anti-theft wards on the car and started for the door that he’d been led through earlier. He knocked on it firmly and a man opened it, looking down at Harry with a frown.

 

“Hi, I have a meeting with your Master,” He said and the shifter nodded, Harry followed him down the tunnels and halls until he was led into the same luxurious room as before.

 

Jean-Claude and the rest of the people who were at the previous meeting were artfully arraigned around the room, the base for a speaker phone on the table in the middle of the room.

 

The vampire Master stood as Harry entered the room and smiled, not flashing fangs, he reached out a hand for Harry to shake and Harry switched the folder to his other hand and gripped the vampires. “Ah, Monsieur Black, welcome back,”

 

Harry smiled wirily at that but polite forms had to be observed. “Master of the City, thankyou for having me back and removing the object of my apprehension,” Harry could play those games too, as long as he wasn’t rude about it there was no action that could be taken against him. There was an angry huff from the wolf king but no other noise or action came from the others in the room.

 

“Please take a seat,” Jean-Claude waved a hand to an empty arm chair and Harry sat, relaxing into the seat, unless he actually attacked the vampire or any of his court, there was no where else in the city he was safer except his home, he was a guest of the Master of the City, Jean-Claude had to protect him unless he wanted to look weak.

 

They made polite small talk for several minutes before getting to the matter of the wards. “Have you had time to consult your… warders? About adjusting them?” He asked and Harry passed over the folder.

 

“This contains the information I got from the companies,” Harry said politely and watched as Jean-Claude read through the information.

 

He finished it and passed it to Richard Zeeman who flicked through the information. “So adjusting the wards is possible,” Richard said and Harry nodded. “And the cost of it is… 1589 galleons? What the hell is a galleon?” He asked and Harry’s lips quirked in amusement at the frustration in the lycanthrope’s voice.

 

“It’s the currency my people use, fifteen galleons equals a hundred dollars,” They blinked at him and Harry sighed. “It’s $10,593 dollars,” He told them. “That’s the set up cost, use of my land will cost you a thousand each full moon and any other time you need it,”

 

Several of the shifters spluttered angrily. “You can’t expect us to pay that much!” Said Richard forcefully and Harry shrugged.

 

“Take it or leave it,” Harry told him. “It doesn’t matter to me either way and quite frankly it’s far easier for me if you decide not to pay,” He said casually. “Not to mention that it’s my land, I don’t even have to offer its use,” He shrugged again. “Think it over, you’ve got twenty-four days before the next full moon, your Master has my card, call me when you decide but I will need at minimum a week to tee up the warding companies,”

 

Jean-Claude looked over his wolves and stood to shake Harry’s hand. “Very well Monsieur Black, we’ll contact you with the decision soon,” He said looking faintly pleased with how angry Richard was. Harry left torn between bemusement and annoyance, on the way home he couldn’t stop shaking his head; Why were all the ‘responsible’ adults so petty and stupid?

 

Harry let himself through the gate and into his house with a sigh, tossing his keys onto the table beside the door. He headed up stairs with a sigh, when Harry headed into his office he noticed both of his post-boxes pulsing with glowing light. He opened the Potter one first and waited to open the Black one, pulling out a letter from the bank along with a small package; he tore open the envelope and pulled out a letter.

 

_‘Mr Black,_

_As per our agreement we sent one of our human employees to the trial and have sent you the memory of it. Our employee also managed to get several other memories that I believe you will want to see, we have included these along with the already paid for original memory and have charged you an extra three galleons for this service._

_Enjoy watching a measure of your revenge,_

_Hanglock_

 

He eagerly torn into the package and found four vials labelled 1, 2, and 3, Harry grinned and tipped the first one into his mostly empty pensive and was soon sucked into it.

 

Harry found himself seated next to a man in his thirties who was very carefully watching the crowd and the proceedings, they were in courtroom ten and Harry could see the whole of the Wizengamot waiting in the reserved seats. Dumbledore was sitting among them looking disappointed behind his grandfatherly façade but it didn’t seem to be affecting many people. Soon the woman sitting in the most elaborate seat stood up and banged on the gavel in front of her and the room quietened down instantly.

 

“This session of the Wizengamot is in session, I, Amelia Bones, Chief Witch declare it so,” She looked around at the room with a stern look. “I will tolerate no interruptions, if you have a question for any of the defendants raise your hand, otherwise I will have you escorted out and your vote discounted. Is that understood?” she asked and Harry couldn’t help but notice how sour Dumbles looked and laughed.

 

There were several other people charged with crimes varying from charming muggle items to one man who was charged with assault and then it was the start of the trials that Harry was waiting to see. First up was Ron and he was escorted into the room obviously wearing the same robes he’d been in when he was detained by the goblins, he was forced into the chair in the centre of the room and like those before him, the chains wrapped around him and held him tight.

 

“Ronald Bilius Weasley, charged with attempted theft from a Gringotts Vault,” The court scribe told the room.

 

“How do you plead?” Madam Bones asked and Ron looked around somewhat frantically, relaxing slightly when he spotted Dumbledore.

 

“Not Guilty,” He said, throat bobbing nervously.

 

“Hmm, Gringotts Representative Mitchell, present your alligations,” She ordered and a man in his late forties stood up and cleared his throat.

 

“Thankyou Chief Witch,” He said with a deep nod to the woman. “Honoured members of the Wizengamot, it is my sad duty to inform you of the crime perpetrated against Gringotts and Harry Potter the account holder in question. Ronald Weasley entered Gringotts with the intent to steal and not just to steal from a stranger but this man attempted to steal from Harry Potter. The only reason that we were able to detain him was because Mr Potter was concerned about theft and so he created a secret question that had to be answered before anything could be removed from his vaults, Mr Dumbledore during his time as Mr Potter’s magical guardian added many people to the access list of the Potter Vaults, over two million galleons was stolen by Mr Dumbledore and his associates from Mr Potter, who has changed the access of his accounts.” He told the room a commanding tone of voice. “Weasley has broken the Gringotts treaty of 1894, his actions while not only criminal are despicable, he tried to steal from our saviour and this time we managed to catch the thieves before they could steal more money that doesn’t belong to them, I urge you to make sure that this man cannot do this again, because next time? What’s to stop him from stealing from you or your families?”

 

Harry could tell that that last question got to them, he couldn’t stop grinning, this was awesome. Madam Bones looked at Weasley with contempt. “Ronald Weasley, what do you have to say in your defence?” she asked him.

 

Weasley was looking around in panic, his eyes catching on his father and older brothers and then on Dumbledore before he looked at the Chief Witch. “I – I didn’t know I wasn’t on the list anymore,” he protested feebly.

 

“Does anyone have anything to say either for or against his defence?” She asked the room and Dumbledore stood up, Harry snorted quietly, it wasn’t raising his hand but it was close, he didn’t speak until Madam Bones nodded to him. “Yes, Mr Dumbledore?” there was a dark kind of amusement behind her eyes.

 

“Thankyou Chief Witch,” He looked around at the members of the Wizengamot with a sad grandfatherly look. “Honoured Members of the Wizengamot, I must ask you to show mercy to this young man. Yes what he did was wrong but he is little but a boy, do not ruin his life with a harsh punishment. Find some other way that he can atone for his wrongs, please,” A tall beautiful older woman raised her hand and at Madam Bones’ nod stood up.

 

“Dowager Mercuri, you wish to address the court?”

 

“Yes thankyou Chief Witch,” She said with a nod to the other woman. “We have just heard from Mr Dumbledore about how this young man is ‘little but a boy’ and not to ‘ruin his life with a harsh punishment’ and while this sentiment is laudable I must remind you that the defendant is twenty years old. He is not a child. And his own actions have brought this on himself. He is a thief, he didn’t deny it. And more than being a thief Mr Weasley tried to steal from Gringotts and in doing so he has broken a treaty, if we don’t act with a harsh enough sentence Gringotts will be well within their right to refuse any of us access to our vaults and let’s not forget about the last time they audited their accounts…” She trailed off and then continued. “Can we afford to not act?”

 

After about another half an hour of debate it finally a sentence was decided. “Ronald Bilius Weasley, I hereby sentence you to eighteen months in Azkaban with no early release available, after you leave Azkaban you will be on probation for three years, during which you will complete eight thousand hours of community service.” She declared and banged her gavel. “Next case,”

 

“Hermione Jane Granger and Ginevra Molly Weasley, charged with attempted theft of a Gringotts vault, they have decided to face the charges together as they were arrested together,”

 

“Very well, how do you plead?”

 

“Not Guilty,” Said both girls said and Harry sneered at them.

 

Amelia regarded the coldly. “Gringotts Representative Mitchell?”

 

“My earlier statement stands, Chief Witch, but I wish to add that Ginevra Weasley attempted to pull her wand against one of the guards at Gringotts, had she managed to draw her wand she would have been executed. Gringotts is insisting that she be given a harsher punishment then the other three.”

 

“Do you have anything to say in your defence?” Asked Madam Bones and Hermione looked panicked but when she saw Dumbledore she looked hopeful and kept her mouth shut. “Does anyone have anything to say either for or against the accused?” No one said anything and she nodded silenced the audience and they deliberated for a sentence for several minutes before they came to a decision. “Hermione Jane Granger, I hereby sentence you to eighteen months in Azkaban with no early release available, after you leave Azkaban you will be on probation for three years, during which you will complete eight thousand hours of community service.” She banged the gavel and looked at Ginny who looked terrified. “Ginevra Molly Weasley, you are hereby sentenced to Azkaban for three years without the possibility of early release, once you leave Azkaban you will be on parol for five years, during which you will need to complete twenty thousand hours of appointed community service,” Amelia said and banged her gavel again. “Next case,”

 

“Molly Agnes Weasley nee Pruewitt, charged with attempted theft of a Gringotts vault,” Madam Bones looked at the court scribe in askance.

 

“Another one?” She demanded and he nodded, she sighed as Mrs Weasley was dragged in struggling the whole way, her mouth moving but no sound coming out. Amelia looked at the two aurors with a raised eyebrow. “You silenced her?”

 

“She’s very loud and her voice is…” He looked at his partner and she added in a dry voice “Strident,” to the comment.

 

“Ah, well unsilence her,” She waited for them to do so. “Molly Agnes Weasley, how do you plead to the chargers laid against you?”

 

“Not guilty! And I cannot believe that Harry would allow this to happen! We’re practically his family,” She said in her usual loud forcefulness.

 

“Mr Potter wrote a letter to the Daily Prophet asking for us to punish you, your children and Miss Granger for attempting to steal from him, obviously you are not his ‘family’.” Amelia Bones said dryly. Harry snickered with happy maliciousness at the look on Mrs Weasley’s face and almost bounced in his seat as he watched them work out her punishment. “Molly Agnes Weasley, you are here by sentenced to six years imprisonment in Azkaban, after your release you will be on parol for four years and will need to serve thirty-five thousand hours of community service.” She paused and then continued. “The reasoning behind the harshness of your sentencing is this – because of the way you raised your two youngest children, you allowed them to become criminals. Neither of them see that they did anything wrong by stealing or attempting to steal, and not just pocket change either! We are just glad that your other five children have turned out so well, obviously Arthur spent more time raising them then the two that took after you,” She banged the gavel and Harry watched full out cackling as Mrs Weasley was lead away screaming and cursing.

 

Harry looked around at the rest of the Weasley family to see how they were taking all this, Arthur looked tired and drawn, Bill and Charlie looked angry and bitter, Percy sitting a little away from them just looked like he wanted to be anywhere else and the twins were looking quietly righteous.

 

The memory faded out then and Harry found himself back in his office, Harry sat back and thought about what he’s seen after a couple of minutes he opened the next vial and tipped it into the basin and allowed himself to get sucked inside the new memory.

 

He found himself outside the Wizengamot chambers where several people were talking, the general sentiment was that Harry had done the right thing in having charges laid against the Weasleys. The memory finished and Harry poured the third into the pensive with a smile, he found himself in a pub. Harry looked around and took an empty seat where the Weasley twins were sitting and nursing drinks.

 

After about a minute Fred spoke quietly to his twin. “What do you think?” He asked and George sighed.

 

“I can’t believe we’re related to them,” He said bitterly. “At least Percy has always been a rule abiding prat, we know what to expect from him… but _those_ two and mum?”

 

“Yeah, and Dad’s just – useless and Bill and Charlie are so…! I kinda hate them,” Fred said pushing a hand through his messy hair.

 

George snorted in dark amusement. “Bones was right, they should have stopped with us,”

 

“Maybe we should look at leaving the family?” Fred said, voice quiet and George hesitated but nodded.

 

“It’s not like any of them would miss us, hell Percy is the only one we speak to these days and it’s not like we’ll miss him too much,” George took a drink and continued. “Zonko’s still wants to buy the shop, if we sell to them we’d have enough to start over somewhere,” He suggested and Fred nodded.

 

“I wonder if Harry would take us in?” He mused and George shrugged.

 

“If he did we’d have to swear an oath or something,”

 

“That’d be fair, can’t expect our Harry not to protect himself,” They finished their drinks and stood. “Come on, we’ve got stuff to do,”

 

The memory faded out and Harry sat back in his seat, mind racing. He liked the twins, he’d always liked the twins and they were trustworthy and honourable, he’d have to come up with an oath for them to take so that he could sound them out… it would be nice to have some people who knew him here.

 

Harry hummed absently as he made his way down to the kitchen and made himself a mug of hot chocolate, he had to think about it.

~☼~

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (A.N. - - - - Sorry about the delay everyone but real life gets in the way as you all know… I’m apologising for this chapter – I’m not happy with it and basically I just wanted to get this chapter over with… Question – the twins are coming to St Louis but should anyone else?)


	6. Not an Update

Ok so the last - well year has sucked but I've started to get my head together. I plan to start writing again and will update as soon as I can, it might be a month or so depending on a lot of things but this story is not dead.

Thank you for you patience,

Jenna

**Author's Note:**

> AN – Hey so this is my first Harry Potter fanfic that’s let me write this much in a coherent first chapter, its been fun writing this and I’ve already made a start on chapter 2  go me! Anyway hope you like this,
> 
> Ps - I’m going to make Harry a shifter and while I think I know what kind I want to make him I’m willing to reconsider if you make a good argument for your animal of choice. And the pairing has to be slash but give me an idea of who you want him paired with, I’ll consider anyone within reason.
> 
> PPS – yes the ‘owl’ joke isn’t actually funny but I couldn’t resist.


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